


Peeling Back My Sunburnt Skin

by SRbackwards



Category: Professional Wrestling, WWE NXT - Fandom, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - High School, Basketball, Canon-Typical Violence, Dickhead Dillinger, Dickhead J.J., Drunken Kissing, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Homophobia, M/M, Underage Drinking, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-31
Updated: 2017-09-21
Packaged: 2018-08-12 05:21:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 13,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7922119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SRbackwards/pseuds/SRbackwards
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jason Jordan thought he had everything figured out, until a five-foot-eight white guy who was much better at basketball than he should've been came along and made him question everything he'd ever known.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Summer winding down

**Author's Note:**

> My first proper multi-chaptered American Alpha fic. Inspired by that episode of Breaking Ground where J.J. and Gable were playing basketball and being utterly adorable. Hope you enjoy. Leave comments/kudos if you do.

“Seven.”

Tye glanced in the direction Jason was looking, scoffed, and replied, “Five.”

“Okay,” said Jason, rubbing his hands together and watching a group of three girls walking through the school gates. “Left to right, six, four, eight.”

“Not a solid eight, but otherwise, fair.”

“Uh… do you think we should… you know… get going? It’s nearly time for class.”

Tye snorted. “Alright, nerd. Let’s go.” He dropped down from the brick wall they’d both been sitting on opposite the school gates, and waited for Jason to follow suit. Not to be outdone, Jason jumped down in one smooth motion, slinging his backpack over his shoulder.

Jason’s first class was biology, in which he found himself seated across from some eight-and-a-halfs, all staring at him, and all giggling when he looked at them. He shot them a wink for good measure, but looked away as they descended into more raucous giggling. It was one of his best classes, after all.

He didn’t pay them much mind for the rest of the lesson. Their teacher was talking about proteins and amino acids, and there was something quite captivating about it. Jason liked biology.

There were more classes afterwards, all less stimulating but also all with less proximity to attractive girls, so Jason put his head down and took a couple of cat naps.

It was all very well and good until his French teacher slammed a heavy book on the table in front of him.

“Qu’est-ce que tu fais, _Jason_?” she asked in an annoying and affected French accent.

“Uh… sorry…” He was fresh out of excuses.

“See me after class.”

Jason didn’t have to look around to know that everyone was looking at him, but it didn’t bother him. He looked good. _Let ‘em look_.

“Are you getting enough sleep?” was not what he expected his teacher to ask him after everyone else had filed out, but nonetheless, that’s what she said.

“Uh… I guess?”

“It’s important to sleep, Jason,” she said. “You can’t achieve if you don’t sleep. And that doesn’t just go for academics. Sports, too.”

“… Right,” he said.

“I know you think you can have it all right now. Someday, you will have to choose, Jason.”

“Um… can I go now?”

She let him leave, but not without giving him another stern look. As soon as she was out of his sight, he tried to put her out of his mind. Ms McMahon gave him the creeps.

By the time lunch rolled around, Jason had all but forgotten the girls clamouring for his attention. Not that it mattered, really. He had no intentions of approaching any of them, no matter how pretty they were. He had other things on his mind.

He met up with Tye in the cafeteria at lunch, as per usual, and listened to him counting off on his fingers all the things they needed to work on at basketball practice, as per usual. Tye had eternal lists of things to do. He was a perfectionist, and there were definitely worse traits for a partner-in-crime to have. Tye had a lot of the worse traits too.

“Oh, and by the way, Alexa Bliss is having a party tomorrow night. She asked me to invite you,” said Tye, slurping his protein shake loudly.

“Oh yeah?” Jason shared a couple of classes with Alexa, and she was often an (unofficial) cheerleader for their basketball team. She wasn’t one of the eight-and-a-halfs who would giggle every time he looked their way. Alexa Bliss was a stone cold ten with a heart of gold and a pocketful of glitter. “I’m game.”

“Good.”

It was Thursday, which meant basketball practice after school. Their coach, Mr Helmsley – although everyone called him Hunter – had an extra spring in his step.

“Boys, I’d like to introduce you to the newest member of our team. He just transferred here from Minnesota, where he competed at a state championship level, so, as you can imagine, this is an exciting day for all of us. Everyone, this is Chad Gable.”

Jason looked at the boy standing next to Hunter. He looked fairly toned (although it was hard to tell through his clothes) but he was also pretty short, and had longish hair pushed back with a headband. Jason thought that he didn’t look like a basketball player. If the murmur that rippled through the group was anything to go by, the rest of the team agreed with him.

“Alright, pipe down, get to stretching,” said Hunter. “Why don’t you guys show Chad what this team is made of?”

They ran drills up and down the court, and the whole time, Jason watched Gable. He was small, but he was fast, and he had impeccable control of the ball.

When Hunter split the team in two and set them against each other in a mock match, Jason found himself on a team with a numbers advantage, with Tye, Blake, Murphy, Ryder, Dawson and Wilder. On the other side was Gable, along with Rawley, Gotch, English, Amore and Big Cass.

Admittedly, Gable was good. Despite what Hunter might’ve had to say about his accomplishments, none of them had really been expecting it. He stole the ball from Jason’s hands with practised ease that made Jason’s blood boil. Jason had a good eight inches height advantage; it shouldn’t have been so easy.

The sun beat down Jason’s exposed skin, but he had more than enough natural protection against UV rays. He wasn’t sure why he noticed, but the skin of Gable’s arms, neck and face were all tinging with pink as the match went on.

Jason was sweating though, and when Hunter called for a brief time out, he took advantage of that time to dump half a bottle of water on himself.

“New kid’s got something, huh?” said Tye, after taking a sip from his own water bottle. Jason wiped the water out of his eyes and looked over to where Gable was talking animatedly with Hunter.

“Yeah…”

“He was in class with me this morning… I didn’t expect to see him here though.”

“He doesn’t look like a basketball player,” said Jason, because he couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“Well, in any case, we’d better watch our backs. They’re one player down and they’re still winning. Last thing we want is to be cut from the team because we got upstaged by a newbie.”

Jason hadn’t thought of that. He took back to the court with butterflies in his stomach. When Hunter announced that Jason would be switching teams for the second half to even up the odds, he didn’t know whether or not to be relieved.

They picked up where they’d left off, except Gable was passing him the ball instead of knocking it out of his hands. Jason scored twelve points, but Gable scored eighteen, and just when Jason felt like his own game was picking up, Hunter called the match.

“Alright, I expect you all to be hitting the gym between now and Monday. We can’t afford to slack off now. Have a good weekend, boys.”

Jason was waiting for Tye to head back to the locker room when Gable jogged up to him.

“Hey… Good match, right?”

Jason realised that he hadn’t heard Gable speak until now.

“Sure, I guess.”

“You’re… really good at this,” said Gable with a half-smile. Jason couldn’t help but feel like he was being scoped out. Sure enough, Gable was looking him up and down. He wasn’t in the mood to be patronised.

“Sure, whatever. I have to go shower.” Tye was walking over now, and Jason strode away from Gable to meet him. He didn’t want to get stuck in the awkward situation of the three of them walking back to locker room together.

“O…kay. I’ll see you Monday,” said Gable, far too perkily. 


	2. Grew up on your back porch

Jason had English class first thing the next morning, and to his dismay, when he entered the room, Gable was sat at the front. His eyes widened when Jason looked at him, and he broke out into a cheesy grin.

Jason hated him.

“Hey,” said Gable as Jason walked past. There was a spare seat next to him. Gable glanced from Jason to the seat and back.

Jason pretended he hadn’t noticed him, and made his way to the back of the class.

During the lesson, he took another nap. No one bothered him this time. The teacher was droning on about Steinbeck, or some shit like that, and Jason had more important things on his mind.

It was Friday. Alexa Bliss’ party was tonight. Jason needed his beauty rest.

The lesson almost passed without incident. Almost. Just as he was packing up his bag, he saw a figure approaching from the corner of his eye. His stomach sank.

“Hey,” said Gable.

“What do you want?” said Jason. He had classes to get to. He wasn’t in the mood for small talk. Gable was unfazed.

“I was just wondering if you were going to Alexa’s party tonight?” he said. Jason gritted his teeth.

“Yeah. Why? And how did you know about it?”

“She invited all of the basketball guys,” said Gable with a hazy smile. “And I was just asking you because you’re one of the few guys on the team I actually recognise. It’d be nice to actually know someone there.”

“Right… well… okay.”

“It’d be nice to… you know… make some friends. Because I’m new here.” Gable was looking at him with his intentions written right across his face. He was _so annoying_.

“I don’t want to be your friend,” said Jason coldly. Gable’s smile faltered for half a second, and then came back stronger than ever.

“I guess we’ll just have to see about that, won’t we?” Gable beamed at him, and then turned on his heel and walked away before Jason could respond. Jason just shook his head and finished packing up his stuff.

*

Just as Gable had said, the entire basketball team was at Alexa Bliss’ party. The timing of the party couldn’t really have been worse. For some reason, the thought of social interaction was eating away at Jason’s chest tonight.

It wasn’t that Jason didn’t like his fellow teammates; in fact, he’d always got on pretty well with most of them. It was just that that night, there was only one person Jason felt like talking to. Jason grabbed a beer out of a cooler and went looking for Tye.

“Jason!” Alexa’s light, musical voice reached his ears. He turned around, and immediately frowned. Alexa wasn’t alone. She was standing with Gable.

Gable was wearing jeans and a hoody, and his long hair was swept back into a ponytail, with another one of those stupid headbands holding it back. A bit of hair had fallen out of place, and it bothered Jason way more than it should have. He had a strange compulsion to tuck it out of the way, just so he wouldn’t have to look at it in anymore.

Alexa was wearing a tight-fitting, sparkly dress (blue, to match the ends of her hair). She looked like something out of a fairytale.

“Hi,” said Jason, not looking at Gable.

“I was just talking to Chad here,” said Alexa with a saccharine smile. “He just moved here from Minnesota. I guess you know him from basketball, right?”

“We’ve met,” said Gable.

“Have you seen Tye?” Jason asked. As much as he liked Alexa, he hated Gable more, so his priority was to get out of that situation. Alexa glanced back and forth between Jason and Gable.

“I think I saw him go out the back,” she said, slowly.

“Great, thanks,” said Jason, not looking at either of them as he went the way she was pointing.

He found Tye with a beer in each hand, chatting to a couple of girls on the porch. When Jason made his way over, Tye peeled away from them. They stared after him with hearts in their eyes.

“Hey, man. How’s it going?” said Tye, gesturing at Jason with his beer bottle.

“Fine. I’m so glad it’s the weekend. School has been dragging.”

“Speaking of, I’m hitting the gym early tomorrow morning. Wanna join me?”

Jason made a face at the thought of getting up early the morning after a party, but he wasn’t one to be outdone.

“Sure, I’ll be there,” he said.

“Good. Remember what Hunter said? We’ve got to bring our A-game.”

“Yeah…” Jason’s mind wandered back to what Tye had said at practice on Thursday. Basketball meant everything to Jason. He was one of their star players, and he wasn’t about to let some new kid from Minnesota take that away from him. “Gable is here,” he told Tye. He wasn’t sure why he said it, and Tye gave him a weird look.

“Okay… The whole basketball team is here as well. And most of the cheerleaders. And some other people too, I guess. But who cares about that?” Tye liked to game plan. He was a perfectionist in every aspect of his life, but that didn’t mean he was immune to the charms of cheerleaders.

“Right,” said Jason. He took a sip of his beer.

It was early September, and the night air was warm. Tye managed to persuade him to sit down in the grass with him. He then produced another beer from his jacket pocket, and handed it to Jason. Jason rolled his eyes. When Tye took out a bottle opener from the pocket of his jeans, Jason rolled his eyes even harder.

“Don’t act like you don’t think I’m awesome,” said Tye, half-seriously. He smirked at Jason, and Jason felt the sudden, strong urge to look away. He sipped at his second beer. “Come on, man. You’re gonna need to drink faster than that if we’re gonna get you up enough confidence to go talk to those cheerleaders.”

“I don’t need more confidence,” sputtered Jason. “I’m fine.”

“How come I never see you talking to girls, then? You haven’t had a girlfriend in years.”

“I don’t need a girlfriend right now. I have more important things to worry about.”

“Right, okay,” said Tye. Feeling under pressure, Jason downed the rest of his beer in one steady gulp. “That’s more like it.”

“Got anything stronger?”

Tye raised an eyebrow, and grinned at him.

“As a matter of fact…” He pulled a small bottle of vodka from a pocket inside his jacket.

“Are you made of pockets?” asked Jason, but Tye ignored him. It was a dumb joke. It wasn’t even funny. The alcohol was starting to kick in.

They did shots from the cap of the bottle until a pleasant dizziness settled over Jason’s stomach.

“You’re my best friend,” said Tye, out of nowhere.

 _You’re my only friend_ , thought Jason. He might’ve said it too, had Tye not collapsed back into the grass at that moment.

Instead, he said, “Are you okay?”

Tye had his eyes closed, but he smiled.

“I’m good,” he said, not opening his eyes. “You should try lying down. The grass is soft.”

He looked so serene. Jason wanted to lie down beside him, but something stopped him. His lips were parted, and Jason could see the steady rise and fall of his chest as he breathed in and out. It was mesmerising.

Jason glanced back towards the house. The girls were gone. In fact, the two of them were alone in the back yard.

He looked back at Tye. Tye still had his eyes closed and his mouth ajar, hands folded and resting on his own chest.

Jason wasn’t sure why, but he found himself on his hands and knees. Vaguely, he registered the feeling of dew against his palms. He was leaning over Tye now, staring down at his angelic face as he breathed so peacefully.

Jason had no idea why he did it, but the next moment, he was leaning down and his lips were brushing against Tye’s.

Tye’s eyes snapped open, but he didn’t push him away. After a second, Jason felt cold hands framing his face, and then Tye was kissing him back, drunk and open-mouthed and sloppy. Jason’s heart was thundering in his ears.

Against his lips, he felt Tye smile. Then he felt him begin to laugh. Before he knew it, he was being pushed back as Tye sat up again, laughing all the while.

Jason was still struggling to catch his breath, and Tye was laughing.

“What the fuck, man?” said Tye, punching him in the chest lightly.

“What?” Jason was dazed. Tye was still laughing.

“What do you mean, ‘ _what_ ’?”

Tye stumbled awkwardly and drunkenly to his feet. He didn’t seem upset, which Jason supposed was a victory of sorts. It didn’t change the fact that he’d just kissed his best friend, and his best friend had laughed in his face.

There was a sinking feeling in Jason’s stomach. He stood up too.

He didn’t knew why he had kissed Tye. All he knew was that it had felt nice.

“Come on,” said Tye. “Let’s go talk to some cheerleaders.”


	3. They hung like paper lanterns

Jason knew something was wrong from the moment he stepped through the school gates on Monday morning.

All eyes were on him, and not in a good way. His skin prickled with every step. He walked past a group of girls, and half of them turned their heads. Their eyes lingered on him, but not in the ‘ _oh my god, he’s cute_ ’ kind of way. His stomach twisted uncomfortably.

He looked away, and the girls started giggling loudly. When he looked back, they were still staring at him. He put his head down and carried on walking, and didn’t look up until he got to his locker. He was in the process of putting his locker combination in when a voice made him turn his head.

“Jason.” It was Alexa Bliss.

“Hey,” he said slowly.

“Are you alright?” she asked.

“I’m fine,” he said through his teeth. “Why?”

“Is it true that you kissed Tye?”

Jason almost banged his head on his locker door as it opened.

“What?” he said when he’d caught his breath.

“Is it… is it true? Did you kiss him?” He looked down at her. She wasn’t smiling, but her expression wasn’t unkind either.

“No,” he said, trying to ignore the way his stomach was roiling. “Why would you think that?”

“He’s been telling everyone that you did.”

“Oh. Okay. Thanks for telling me.” He closed his locker. “See you later.”

He found Tye sitting on a table in the cafeteria, clutching a juice box and smiling an unbearably handsome smile. He was surround by people who were all talking and laughing noisily, and Jason had to steel himself before approaching.

“Tye, can I talk to you?” he asked loudly. The surrounding hubbub died instantly. Tye looked up at him. He took a long sip at his juice box. “Now,” said Jason.

Tye crushed the juice box in his hand and stood up. Jason moved towards him.

“What’s up?” Tye asked. Jason grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the rest of the group. He didn’t stop until they were around the corner.

Once he was sure they were alone, he hissed, “what the fuck, man?”

“What?”

“Why have you been telling everyone that I kissed you?”

Tye began to laugh, and Jason let go of his arm like he’d been burned.

“Because you did kiss me?” said Tye after a moment.

“Is this a joke to you?” Jason heard his voice crack, but it was too late to stop it. Tye’s face fell.

“Come on, man. I thought we were just messing around. What’s wrong?”

“It doesn’t matter,” said Jason. He tried to turn away, but Tye grabbed his shoulder.

“Come on, J.J., I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to-”

“It doesn’t matter,” Jason repeated, wrenching his arm from Tye’s grasp and walking away.

*

Jason’s day only went downhill from there. At every turn, all eyes were on him. Every time he heard someone laugh, his stomach jolted unpleasantly.

He wasn’t used to this.

At lunchtime, Tye tried to call him over to sit him, but Jason ignored him, and found an empty table to eat at by himself.

Being alone didn’t help him. If anything, he felt even more exposed. Every second he sat at that table was a second he could feel the whole world staring at him. He didn’t end up finishing his lunch.

*

Finally, after a long day of keeping his head down and trying to look busy, he had basketball practice. He didn’t care if the basketball guys were talking and judging him behind his back. He didn’t need to impress them. The only person he needed to impress was Hunter.

Besides, it was easier not to think about things if his body was working.

“Jason?”

For the second time that day, Jason almost accidentally banged his head against his locker door. He spun around to find Gable standing beside him. He wasn’t smiling, and Jason wondered if he’d ever seen him look so serious before. The corridor was otherwise deserted, and it made Jason feel inexplicably nervous.

“What?”

“Look, I know you don’t like me,” said Gable. Jason winced. “But I think I understand at least a little bit of what you’re going through right now. So, if you ever wanna talk, I’m here for you.”

“You don’t know shit,” said Jason, and Gable grimaced. “I…” A part of Jason wanted to apologise. He had no idea why Gable seemed to bring out the worst him, because here he was, trying to be nice, and Jason was throwing it back in his face. “Thank you,” he said finally. “But no thanks.” He didn’t need a pep talk.

Gable just nodded.

“Alright, see you at practice,” he said, and then he left Jason alone. Jason had never been more confused by a person in his life.

*

“Okay, boys, I’m splitting you into teams again. Gable, Jordan, Dillinger, Blake, Murphy and Ryder, you’re on one team. Dawson, Wilder, Rawley, English, Gotch, Amore and Cass, you’re the other team.”

As Hunter divided them up, Jason started to wonder if his faith that basketball would cheer him up was misplaced. The last thing he wanted to do was have interact with Tye _and_ Gable.

The game started out mediocre, and went downhill. Jason fumbled the ball more times than he caught it, and got intercepted by Enzo Amore of all people. He was off his game.

He tried not to look at Hunter, because he didn’t want to think about what this meant for his basketball career. He wasn’t going to get cut from the team for having one bad day, right? _Right_?

The sun was beating down on the back of his neck, and for the first time, Jason wondered if he might actually pass out. It was too hot, but his clothes clung to him with cold, sticky sweat.

Tye was running circles around him, almost literally. He always liked to do a bit of showboating, but usually Jason could keep up. Not today.

Jason watched him miss a shot. And another one. And another one. It didn’t seem to faze him. Grumbling, Jason realised he needed to up his game if they weren’t going to get decimated by the other team.

He started moving faster, despite the fatigue in his limbs. The only way he was going to be able to do anything was if he could brush off his emotions and push through. He received the ball from Gable and finally – _finally_ – managed to score a point.

He looked back at Gable, who was smiling at him, and his lips twitched involuntarily in response.

Tye showboated his way through the rest of the match. It was costing the team. Jason knew he wasn’t the only one starting to get angry. Tye hogged the ball instead of passing it more often than not, and when he finally decided it was time to pass it to Jason, something in Jason snapped.

He caught the ball, and then dropped it immediately, where he stood. He turned his back on the court, and walked away.

“Jason? What the hell, man?” he heard Tye calling out to him, but he ignored him. Today was not his day.


	4. Pulling wings off insects

Jason was tempted to skip school. He’d been close to doing it on Tuesday and Wednesday, but his mother had asked what the matter was, and he didn’t want to explain to her why he wasn’t feeling well.

He couldn’t skip Thursday. Thursday was the first basketball practice since he’d walked out of Monday’s session; if he skipped today, Hunter might think he’d dropped out of basketball entirely. Basketball still mattered to him, regardless of everything else going on in his life.

That was why he pushed through. He could deal with the staring and the laughter if it meant that he got to hold up a trophy at the end of the day. Jason knew what was important. He wasn’t about to let his feelings get in the way of success.

Classes dragged on. Thankfully, he had biology, which made things a little bit more bearable, but the pretty girls who sat across from him stared unabashedly. They didn’t giggle when he looked at them anymore; they giggled when he looked away.

By the time he made it to practice, Jason thought it was a miracle he’d survived the day.

It was raining, but that didn’t mean anything to Hunter. Jason’s socks were sodden, and his feet skidded more than once, but he was playing better than he had on Monday, and that was all that mattered.

Tye was avoiding his eyes. It was hard to pass a ball to someone he wasn’t looking at, but somehow he managed it. Gable had given Jason a smile when he first arrived. Jason hadn’t returned it, so neither of them said a word to each other for the rest of the session.

Their coach was watching them all intently. It was his job to watch the match, of course, but Jason had a feeling he was paying particular attention to him. Hunter had never asked for an explanation as to why he’d walked out on Monday, and for that, Jason was thankful, because he had no idea what he would’ve said.

Practice ended half an hour early, and Jason didn’t stick around a second longer than he had to. Gable was walking towards him, wet hair plastered down against his forehead and neck, wearing his stupid, ever-present grin, so Jason turned on his heel and walked away as fast as he could.

He took a long shower. If he could avoid seeing anyone at all, then he didn’t have to worry about anything. The hot water rushed over his skin, and he found he could breathe again. It took a while, but when he was done, he felt like he’d cleansed more than just his body.

He turned the shower off, and was met with perfect silence. There were no sounds but those of his own gentle breathing. After taking his time drying himself off and getting dressed, he went back out into the main locker room. He was just bending down to pick his backpack up off the ground when it happened.

A hand found the back of his head and slammed him, face first, into the lockers opposite. Jason’s legs crumpled beneath him, but whoever it was wasn’t done. They banged his head against the locker again, and again, and one more time until Jason could feel the strength draining from his limbs.

He slumped next to the wall, and felt a sharp kick in the centre of his back. It was hard to breathe as more and more kicks rained down on him. A cut must’ve opened up somewhere on his head because his vision was blurred red.

“Hey! What’re you doing?” came a voice from somewhere in the distance. Jason had lost all sense of orientation.

He recognised the voice, though. The kicking stopped, and he rolled over. With a jolt, he saw that it was Blake and Murphy stood above him.

“Back off, Gable,” said Blake bitingly, but he stepped away from Jason all the same. “You can’t take us both.”

“Watch me.” Jason heard rather than saw what happened next. There were a couple of thudding sounds, and the sounds of laboured breathing. He tried to roll away from the fight, but he reached the wall much sooner than expected, so he just covered his head with his arms.

“You can’t win this, Gable,” came Murphy’s voice. Gable didn’t respond, but a moment later, Murphy let out a shriek of pain.

Jason lay still. There were loud footsteps; some heading away from him, and some towards him. He thought he might’ve been drifting out of consciousness, but he wasn’t sure.

“Jason.” A hand touched his arm. Jason didn’t move. Tentatively, fingers curled around his wrists and pulled his arms away from his face. He looked up. Gable was wincing. “Are you okay?”

Jason wanted to snap at him. He wanted to say something nasty and sarcastic. He wanted to tear Gable down the way he had so many times before. The words didn’t get past his lips.

“No,” he whimpered. Gable crouched beside him and helped him sit up against the lockers.

“Yeah, you’re bleeding a little bit,” said Gable. He stood up and went to his locker. Jason watched him retrieve his backpack from inside it, and then come back to sit beside him again. He pulled a small towel out of the bag.

Jason clenched his teeth together as Gable wiped the blood off his face. The cut was small but painful, and stung where the towel touched it.

“It looks like you’re gonna have some bruising on your face,” said Gable. “Can you stand up?”

Shakily, Jason got to his feet. Gable offered him a hand, but he didn’t take it.

“How are you feeling? Do you feel nauseous at all?” Gable asked him, looking concerned.

“No.”

“Headache?”

“A little bit.”

“Ears ringing?”

“No?”

“Hmm… do you feel dizzy?”

“Yeah, kinda.”

“You might have a concussion. You should probably see a doctor about that.”

“I’m fine.”

Gable drew his eyebrows together.

“… Okay. I’m not gonna try and make you do anything you don’t want to do… it’s just… head injuries can be super dangerous, okay? I don’t want you hurt.”

“Thank you for your concern,” said Jason. For once, there was no sarcasm in his voice.

“You’re…” Gable trailed off. “I should… we should…”

“I’m feeling kinda thirsty after all of that. Do you wanna go get a coffee or something?”

Gable’s eyes lit up, and Jason felt a strange, unfamiliar warmth in his stomach.

“Yes! I mean… Yeah. I’d like that,” said Gable. His cheeks were flushed pink, but that might’ve been from sunburn. “I wouldn’t want to leave you alone right now anyway. You know? In case they come back?”

Jason’s smile twisted awkwardly. He’d almost forgotten about Blake and Murphy.

“Good point.”

*

They found a little coffee shop halfway between the school and Jason’s house. It was cosy, but they sat away from the window, just in case anyone they knew walked past.

“How did you fight both of them off by yourself?” Jason asked. Gable chuckled.

“I’m training to be a wrestler,” he said. “Greco-Roman style, mostly.”

“ _No way_.” Jason’s hand hovered, holding his cup halfway to his mouth. “That’s so cool.”

Chad smiled at him shyly. He had a lovely smile. Jason quickly looked away.

“What… uh… what’s that like?”

“It’s a lot of fun, actually. I mean, I love basketball, but wrestling is really my passion. And it’s nice to know I can defend myself, if anything happens.”

“Yeah, that’s… useful.” Jason took a deep breath. “Thanks again… you know… for saving me and everything.”

“Any time,” said Chad. He smiled, and Jason took the time to properly look at him. He was showing of all of his perfect teeth, and his eyes were wide. Jason had always thought he was kind of goofy looking, but there was no denying that he looked good when he smiled. “You know…”

Jason realised he’d been staring. He glanced away from Chad to look at the almost empty coffee cup in his hand, and then glanced back. Chad was watching him carefully. Jason’s heart was thudding like he’d been caught doing something he shouldn’t have been.

“I’m here for you,” said Chad slowly. “If you want to talk, I mean. I know you probably feel like you’re alone right now, but I want you to know that there are people – people like me – who have similar experiences. People who know what you’re going through. You’re not alone.”

“I’m not-” Jason started, but cut himself off. He wasn’t sure what he had been about to say anyway. _I’m not what? I’m not gay?_ “I’m not _going through_ anything.” He stood up. Chad stayed seated, staring at him. “Thanks for the coffee,” Jason said, and then he turned and left without looking back.


	5. Losing ground

Jason didn’t go to school on Friday. He didn’t want to go to school on Monday, but the look of fear and concern in his mother’s eyes changed his mind. He couldn’t let her think he was afraid; he couldn’t let her worry more.

Besides, he didn’t want to miss basketball practice.

Gable had been right about the bruises. His face had burst out in blotches of dark purple. There was a thin scar on his scalp where his head had been busted open, but it was healing fast.

The staring got worse. He supposed he should’ve seen it coming – he was quite a sight to behold, after all – but he really wished people would stop looking at him.

That day, Jason had one small comfort: there was no sign of Blake or Murphy, or even Gable. He wasn’t sure what he’d have done if he’d seen them.

At lunchtime, he saw Tye. They made eye contact for a brief moment, and then Tye looked away.

 _Good_ , thought Jason. He found an empty table, and sat down to eat alone. His jaw ached slightly as he chewed. He ignored the pain. He kept his eyes on his food until someone dumped their tray in front of the seat opposite him. 

“Everywhere else was taken,” said Baron Corbin, by way of an explanation as he sat down, “and I don’t totally hate you.”

“Gee… thanks,” said Jason. Baron didn’t respond.

Shrugging, Jason went back to his food. For the most part, the two of them sat in silence. Jason found himself appreciating it more than he could’ve imagined. For once, he had silence without the implications of loneliness. He didn’t have to pretend to look busy.

“I saw Hunter earlier,” said Baron, out of nowhere, after they’d been sitting together for a few minutes. “He looked mad. Real mad.”

“Uh huh?” Jason didn’t really know how to respond to that. Baron didn’t elaborate, so Jason finished up his food. He was thankful that Baron hadn’t mentioned the bruises.

As Jason stood up, he made eye contact with Alexa Bliss across the room. The ends of her hair had been dyed red, replacing the old blue. She was glaring at him. Feeling uneasy, Jason put his tray away and left as quickly as he could.

When classes were done, Jason’s feet dragged as he headed to practice. Just because he hadn’t seen Gable or Blake and Murphy all day didn’t mean they wouldn’t be there. Tye was probably going to be there too.

As it turned out, he needn’t have worried. Tye didn’t make an appearance, and Gable, Blake and Murphy were nowhere to be seen.

Hunter stopped them halfway through warm-up.

“Since half the team is missing today, we’re gonna call it a day. Make sure you all turn up on Thursday,” he said.

Jason was just turning to walk back to the locker room when Hunter called out his name.

“I need to speak to you about something.”

Jason’s blood ran cold.

“Uh-huh,” he said, trying to sound nonchalant.

They walked to Hunter’s office in silence, and Jason tried to remember how to breathe. The walls of the office were decorated with newspaper clippings and certificates. There were trophies piled on every surface.

The level of overachievement was almost stifling. Jason felt ill.

Hunter sat down behind the desk, and Jason settled into the chair in front of it.

“So,” said Hunter. “There are actually a couple of things I wanted to talk to you about. First of all, what happened to your face?”

Jason winced. His mouth moved faster than his brain.

“Nothing,” he said, trying to keep his expression level. Hunter couldn’t make him say anything, and making up a lie was strenuous.

“Nothing, huh?” Hunter smiled at him. It wasn’t a pleasant smile, but it wasn’t unkind either. “Well, if you say so. Do you know why Blake, Murphy and Gable weren’t at practice today?”

“No, sir.”

“They were suspended. For fighting. Well, specifically, Gable was fighting Blake and Murphy. For a small guy, he’s awfully fierce.”

Jason didn’t have the words to form a response. His stomach had twisted itself up into a knot.

“Do you know why Tye wasn’t at practice today?” Hunter continued.

“No, sir.”

“Hm… He quit the team. I thought you two were good friends.”

“We were,” said Jason, tight-lipped. Hunter regarded him for a long moment, and as great as the temptation to look away was, Jason held his gaze.

“Is everything alright, Jason?”

Jason opened his mouth to tell him that everything was fine, there was no need to worry about him, but the words dried up halfway. Before he knew what was happening, hot, embarrassing and inexplicable tears were running down his cheeks.

“I- I guess not,” he choked out. He covered his face with his hands and tried to quell the tears. They were coming down hard and J.J. couldn’t stop his breath from stuttering.

He heard Hunter’s chair creak as he got to his feet, and wiped his eyes furiously so he could look up at him.

“Here,” said Hunter. He’d made his way around to Jason’s side of the desk, and he was leaning against it, holding out a box of tissues. Gratefully, Jason took a handful and wiped at his eyes and nose.

“I’m not a guidance counsellor, Jason, so I’m not gonna try and get you to open up to me if you don’t want to. Just know that whatever you’re feeling right now is the same thing that all teenagers go through at some point. Being a teenager is hard. You’ve got school and sports and expectations to juggle, and don’t even get me started on the social stuff. Other teenagers can be dicks, and that makes everything harder. It’s like you’re navigating through a jungle. Everybody has bad days, trust me.”

“Thank you, sir.” The tears had slowed enough that Jason could look Hunter in the eye, but he was sure he looked like shit. Every few moments, his breathing would hitch again and remind him of how embarrassing this whole situation was.

“It’s okay, son.”

Jason looked down at his hands. Words he wasn’t sure if he should say were crawling up his throat. He didn’t swallow them.

“People have been treating me differently,” he said, trying not to think about the consequences of his words, lest he back out. “Because there are rumours going around about me- about me being-” He took a deep breath. “About me being gay. A lot of people don’t like me anymore.”

There was a pause. J.J. didn’t want to look up for fear of what he might find in Hunter’s eyes.

“Jason,” said Hunter. “Only you can define who you are. Don’t let anyone else tell you what you can or can’t be. And if they don’t like who you are, screw ‘em. You don’t need people like that in your life.”

Finally, Jason met Hunter’s eyes.

“Thank you,” he said. His breathing shuddered again, but he wasn’t crying anymore.

“You know… I’m not just a basketball coach. I teach wrestling after school every Tuesday and Wednesday. Maybe you should come along, just in case ‘nothing’ happens again. Better to be safe than sorry.”

“I’ll think about it. Thank you, Hunter.”


	6. Acting like I'm strong

Jason’s first thought when he walked through the doors of the sports hall on Tuesday afternoon was that there were far fewer people than he was expecting. His eyes scanned the room, and he found that he knew, or at least knew of, everyone.

With a nervous jolt, his eyes fell on Chad Gable, who gave him a tentative smile. Jason returned it shyly, and then quickly looked away.

He didn’t know why he was surprised to see Gable here. He knew that Gable wrestled. It made perfect sense for him to be here.

As for the rest of the group, there were few guys he knew from basketball (namely Enzo Amore, Colin Cassady, Aiden English and Simon Gotch). Baron Corbin was there too, which, bafflingly, came as something of a relief. Apollo Crews, who Jason knew from English class, and Finn Bàlor and Sami Zayn, who Jason had had various classes with over the years, were standing in a loose circle.

It wasn’t just guys, either. Carmella (another informal basketball cheerleader) was with Enzo and Cass, and Bayley, who was just about the sweetest girl Jason had ever met, gave him a little wave. Nia Jax appeared to having an angry, muttered conversation with Baron. In the far corner, keeping to herself, as usual, was Asuka, who was a Japanese exchange student, and without a doubt, the scariest person in the room.

At the centre of the room was Hunter, who was talking to Apollo, but looked up when Jason entered.

“Jason,” he said. “You came. Excellent. We’ve got even numbers now. I’m gonna pair you up.” Jason fidgeted awkwardly, but said nothing. “First of all, though, you guys need to warm up.”

For ten minutes, Hunter barked orders at the group and put them through their paces. Jason had thought his cardio was pretty good, but by the end, he was more flushed and out of breath than any of them. He supposed it was because they were used to these kinds of drills, but that didn’t make him feel any better about it.

While Jason was still catching his breath, Hunter got the group to stand in a semi-circle, and called Gable and Finn to stand in the centre. They demonstrated a few holds and moves while Hunter talked them through it.

Gable moved incredibly fluidly. More often than not, Jason’s eyes couldn’t keep up with what they were doing, because he was too distracted by the easy athleticism of the way Gable moved. Finn was evidently incredibly skilled too, but Jason’s eyes were drawn to Gable.

While he had Finn in a headlock, Gable looked out at his audience, and his eyes met Jason’s. A small smile flitted across his face, and Jason flushed.

“Alright, thank you Finn, thank you Chad, that’ll be all,” said Hunter.

The two boys separated and returned to the semi-circle.

“We’ve got lots of people here with very different levels of skill and experience, so it’s important that everyone is given the chance to show their stuff, and improve,” Hunter continued, rubbing his hands together. “Apollo, you go work with Baron. We’re gonna switch things up a little bit. I want some of you to work with people you don’t normally work with. Enzo, you’re with English. Cass, Gotch. Bayley, Carmella. Sami, Finn. Asuka, Nia.” As the rest of the group peeled off, Hunter approached Jason. “Since you’re new here, I’m putting you with Gable. He knows his stuff,” he said, clapping Jason on the shoulder.

Hunter went over to work with Apollo and Baron, and Gable came over to Jason.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey,” said Jason. With a slight jolt, he noticed that Gable had a black eye. He was sure he didn’t need to ask what had happened. Instead, he asked, “I thought you were suspended?”

“I am. Hunter still lets me come in to wrestle, though. Come on, let me show you some moves.”

Gable walked him through the basics of what he’d been demonstrating with Finn. It’s a good thing he did, because Jason had been paying more attention to the physicality than the actual logistics of the moves.

“You’ve just gotta practise the same motions over and over. It’ll become muscle memory. Let me show you. I’m gonna put you in a headlock, and you’re gonna reverse it, okay?”

More than once, Gable took his hands and adjusted his grip, and more than once, Jason felt his stomach twist awkwardly. He was hungry. He hadn’t eaten lunch. That must’ve been why he felt so strange.

“Good, you’re doing great. You’re a natural at this.”

Jason’s felt warm with the glow of praise. Gable stood back for a moment as they both caught their breath. Gable was watching him carefully.

“Thank you,” said Jason. “You know. For showing me how to do stuff. You could’ve been partnered with someone much more experienced, and actually challenged yourself. But you’re helping me, instead. Thanks.”

“Well, hey, you know what they say. You never know if you truly understand something until you try to teach it to someone. So you’re welcome. I like helping you.” Gable cast a hand in the general direction of the rest of the group. “I’ve wrestled pretty much all of these guys already. You’re a new challenge.”

“Well, thanks anyway. And…” Jason took a deep breath. “I don’t know what you did to Blake and Murphy, but thanks for that too. You didn’t have to.”

Gable scoffed.

“Blake and Murphy are homophobic assholes,” he said. “They deserved it.”

Feeling unusually but not unpleasantly warm, Jason fell silent as they continued to practise. Gable didn’t initiate conversation either, which might’ve been strange, but it somehow felt natural.

For the rest of the session, Gable guided him through what he needed to know. A couple of times, Hunter walked over and watched their progress, which made Jason nervous, but every time, he’d give them an encouraging smile and then move on to the next pair.

When Hunter finally called the session to a close, Jason pulled back from Gable with mild disappointment. As physically demanding as it had all been, he couldn’t deny that he was having fun.

“Alright guys,” said Hunter, addressing the room. “Don’t forget training tomorrow. I expect to see all of you there. Have a good evening,”

As the general rest of the group began striking up conversations and filing out, Jason turned back to Gable. Gable flipped his hair out of his eyes in a manner far more flamboyant than necessary, and Jason couldn’t help but crack a smile.

“How did you find that?” Gable asked.

“Not bad. You’re a good teacher,” said Jason. Slowly, the two of them started to make their way over to the door, following the rest of the group.

“Is that so?” Gable cocked an eyebrow at him.

“You know…” Something had been gnawing at Jason’s chest, and as much as he didn’t want to admit it, he had to get it out in the open. “I’m sorry for snapping at you that day in the coffee shop. And walking away. I know you were just trying to help,” he said as they stepped out into the cool evening air.

Jason stopped walking when he realised that Gable had. To his relief, he saw that Gable was smiling.

“Don’t worry about it. We should do it again some time. Well… without the snapping and walking away part,” said Gable, offering Jason a wry smile.

“That sounds good to me.”

“See you later, Jason.”

“Bye… Chad.”


	7. Waiting for good news

When Jason woke up the next morning, for the first time in a long time, things didn’t seem so bad. He wasn’t dreading school the way he’d grown accustomed to.

Sure, people in the corridors still stared and laughed and pointed as he walked past, but nowhere near as badly as they used to. He was starting to get used to it. He didn’t mind so much now.

He sat through Math and English and French, somehow not feeling as drained as he once had. He supposed his new hobby had given him a better outlook on life. It was a refreshing feeling.

Even Ms McMahon, who was infamous for smiling insincerely one minute and then turning around to scream at you the next, seemed impressed by the level of attention he was paying in French class.

At lunchtime, Baron Corbin was nowhere to be seen, so Jason sat by himself again.

Being alone was strange. It was like someone was trying to smother his good mood with a blanket and he was fighting to hold onto it with everything he had. He couldn’t go back to feeling sad again. He’d had enough trouble dragging himself out of bed over the past couple of weeks; he didn’t want that trend to continue.

That train of thought was derailed when someone set down a tray across from him and sat down.

“My suspension is over,” said Chad when Jason looked up.

“Good,” said Jason, because he wasn’t sure what else to say.

“How’re you feeling?”

The bruises had mostly faded from Jason’s face, and for the most part, he didn’t ache so much anymore. It had been almost a week, after all.

“Better,” he said.

“Glad to hear it,” said Chad, digging his fork into his pasta.

“How’s your eye?” asked Jason, gesturing at the shiner Chad was still prominently sporting. Chad chuckled.

“It’s fine. I’ve had worse, believe me. You coming to wrestling today?”

“Yeah.”

“Good. I’ve got a few things to show you. I’ve got some moves I think you’ll like.”

“Really?”

“Of course,” said Chad.

“That’s great, but…” Jason considered for a moment. “What if Hunter doesn’t make us partners?” It was something that Jason had been thinking about, whether consciously or not. Chad just shook his head.

“Usually we pick our own partners anyway. Besides, Hunter knows that you can learn from me. Unless you don’t want to be partners?” Their eyes met. Chad was fixing him with a Look, and Jason had no idea what it meant.

“… I do want to be partners.”

Chad stared at him for a couple of seconds longer, and then looked back down at his food.

“Good.”

“I…” Jason steeled himself. He wasn’t sure why he needed to, but he did. “I really enjoyed training with you. You’re a good teacher. And I really want to learn how to fight so… you know… stuff doesn’t happen again. I want to be able to defend myself.”

“You’re a natural,” said Chad. “A real fast learner. You’re already as good as half of the guys there anyway. And you could definitely have taken Blake and Murphy if they hadn’t blindsided you. Even two-on-one.”

Jason felt his cheeks growing warm, and quickly looked down.

“Thanks.”

“I mean it,” said Chad. Jason looked up at him, but he didn’t hear what else he had to say because something caught his eye over his shoulder.

Blake and Murphy were walking across the other side of the cafeteria. Alexa Bliss was between them, the newly red tips of her hair glinting in the light. Murphy caught Jason’s eye and glared.

Chad turned around to see what Jason was distracted by. Jason couldn’t see his face, but he could see the way he tightened his grip on his fork.

“We’ll take them out,” said Chad, turning back to Jason. “We’ve just got to train. They’re not gonna get the chance to hurt you again.” Something in the cadence of Chad’s words made Jason’s stomach tingle.

*

“I want you guys working in pairs again. This time you can choose your own partners,” said Hunter to the group. Chad nudged Jason, as if to say ‘I told you so’.

They found a spot to practise, and immediately, Chad took Jason down to the mat.

“I wasn’t ready,” Jason sputtered. Although he was more prepared for today’s warm-up, he hadn’t quite caught his breath.

“That’s lesson number one. Always be prepared,” said Chad, releasing him. As soon as they were both on their feet, Jason tackled him to the ground. Chad laughed breathlessly as Jason pinned him there. “Don’t get overzealous,” he said. After a long pause, Jason realised he was still essentially lying on top of him, and quickly rolled off.

“I suppose,” said Chad, getting onto his knees and dusting himself off, “I better show you how to transition from taking someone down into some holds. Sound good?”

“Yes,” said Jason, fighting off a blush.

They went through and practiced everything they’d done at the previous session, and Chad taught him how to hold someone down in various positions. Once he’d got that down, they moved onto transitioning between holds. A couple of times, Hunter would stand nearby and watch them, but he didn’t offer much advice. Chad had it covered.

By the time Chad was starting to teach Jason how to reverse those holds, the session was coming to an end.

Hunter called everyone over for a mandatory pep talk. Jason was listening intently, until he realised that Chad wasn’t paying any attention to Hunter; he was looking at Jason instead. Their eyes met, but Chad didn’t look away. Instead, he gave him a small smile.

“Alright, I think that’s everything,” said Hunter, and Jason’s attention snapped back to the front of the room. “Take care of yourselves. I’ll see some of you tomorrow, and the rest of you on Tuesday. Have a good week.”

As the rest of the group disbanded, Jason walked out side-by-side with the young man who’d somehow managed to become his friend while he wasn’t looking. Chad was chattering away about something, but Jason wasn’t really listening to his words as much as he was enjoying the rhythm of his voice.

Jason was happy to continue in this fashion, but as soon as they were out of the door and away from the other students, Chad stopped walking.

“We need to strategise,” he said.

“Huh?” said Jason, stopping in his tracks.

“Blake and Murphy have Alexa now.” Chad’s voice was uncharacteristically serious. “Their elevators might not go all the way to the top floor but trust me when I say that hers does. She’s smarter than she lets on. Manipulative, when she wants to be. I don’t doubt that they’re ready for us. It’s two-on-two now. They can’t bank on the numbers advantage anymore, so I’m sure they’re planning something.”

“Right,” said Jason. His blood was running cold, his heart hammering in his chest.

“Hey,” said Chad, after a long moment. “Don’t worry about it. We can take them easily. I know we can. I’m just worried about Alexa. If she gets involved, either she gets hurt, or we get hurt because we’re trying not to hurt her. I don’t want either of those things happening. Hence: we need to strategise.”

“Okay,” said Jason. His breathing had slowed significantly.

“Are you free after basketball tomorrow?”

“Yes.”

“Cool. I was thinking we could go get dinner or something while we talk about it?”

“Y-yeah, that’s… that’s… yeah,” said Jason. Chad’s face broke out into a grin.

“Good. I can’t wait.”


	8. I'll be there in the meantime

Jason wasn’t sure he could really call what he was experiencing “palpitations” – it seemed like such a clinical term – but he didn’t know how else to describe the fluttering in his chest. They had started as he was packing his school bag.

Although he knew it was impractical, he packed two sets of clothes into his bag, instead of one: his gym clothes, and a spare outfit to change into after basketball. His bag was so full that he had to sit on it to zip it shut, but he thought it’d be worth it.

If you’d have asked Jason why he thought it necessary to bring his best jeans and a casual shirt to wear to go out for a meal with a friend, when he could’ve just worn what he was wearing to school, he wouldn’t have been able to answer. Or maybe he would’ve. Either way, he would have chosen not to.

Into a side pocket of his backpack, he tucked a spare can of deodorant and set off on his way.

*

After a particularly sweaty basketball practise, Jason took an extra long shower. When he finally turned the water off, his fingers were trembling.

He tried to chalk it up to the fact that he hadn’t been out all that much since he and Tye had stopped being friends and he’d become a little bit of a social pariah. Deep inside, he knew that wasn’t the whole reason.

Chad was waiting for him by the entrance to the school. He was wearing the same thing he’d been wearing at lunch and his hair was still wet, but somehow he seemed smarter, sharper. Jason couldn’t put his finger on why, but he knew that Chad looked good.

“You ready to go?” asked Chad cheerfully.

“Sure,” said Jason. He wanted to quip something witty, but nothing came to mind. They started walking.

There was a diner a couple of blocks from the school where they settled in with burgers and fries. Once small talk had started to ease and Jason felt less like he was sweating visibly through his shirt, they bonded over the fact that they had both moved to Florida from the Midwest (Jason from Chicago, Chad from Minnesota).

When they were done with their food, their idle chatter turned strategic.

“We’ve got to hit ‘em where it hurts,” said Chad, apropos of not much.

“Where it hurts? Like…?” Jason vaguely gestured to his own crotch, and Chad shook his head.

“No. Well. Maybe. Whatever it takes.”

“So where exactly are we hitting them?”

Chad took a sip of his drink, swirling it around in his mouth before responding, “I’m not sure yet. We still have to figure that part out.”

“Okay,” said Jason.

“And, more importantly, we have to get Alexa out of the way. She may be small, but she’s vicious. I don’t want her getting involved, because that’ll only end badly for us. Either she ends up getting hurt, or we end up getting hurt because we’re trying so hard not to hurt her. Either way, it’s bad, so we have to make sure she’s not there when we make our move.”

Jason mulled over this for a few seconds. At his lack of response, Chad ate a couple more fries.

“I don’t want to strike first,” said Jason. “I have no doubt they’ll come for me again, so I just want to be ready for them when they do.”

“Okay,” said Chad. “That’s reasonable. We won’t be able to dictate the circumstances if we don’t make the first move, but that’s okay. We just have to be prepared for whatever they’re going to throw at us.”

For a couple of minutes, neither of them spoke. They ate in silence, and maybe it should’ve felt awkward, but Jason didn’t much care.

When they finished eating, Chad looked as if he was going to say something, but Jason got there first.

“You know what they’re saying about me is true, right?” The words burst from him, suddenly. He wasn’t sure why he’d said it, but it was too late to take it back now.

Chad looked bemused.

“About… me and Tye,” Jason pressed on, every word harder than the last. “I kissed him. At the party.”

“Okay…” said Chad slowly. “Do you… want to talk about it?”

“No,” said Jason firmly.

“Do you want to split a dessert?”

“…Sure.”

Conversation moved onto lighter topics. They didn’t talk about Blake or Murphy or Tye for the rest of their time spent in that diner.

When they’d paid, Chad walked Jason back to his car. Oddly, Jason found he felt much safer with Chad by his side. Jason was a 6’4” athlete, but somehow his 5’8” companion radiated a sense of security which Jason very much appreciated.

Chad’s comforting presence instilled something in Jason. Maybe it was a sense of trust, or maybe it was just a kind of confidence that Jason wasn’t used to. Either way, Jason felt compelled to speak.

“You know…” he began, just as they were slowing to a stop next to his car. Chad looked at him expectantly. Jason took a deep breath. “I didn’t feel anything. With Tye. When I kissed him. I mean… I’m not into him.”

There was a long pause while the two of them regarded each other. Chad’s expression was unreadable. Just as the silence was becoming stifling, Chad spoke.

“Good,” he said. A hint of smile played at the corners of his lips. “See you around, Jason.” And with that, he turned and walked away, leaving Jason with palpitations once again.


	9. I watched the storms light up the clouds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> RIP American Alpha. You will live on forever in our hearts.

Three weeks later, Jason still hadn’t managed to shake the way Chad had said the word “good” out of his mind.

They’d started meeting up for early morning gym sessions before school, on top of the training they were doing at wrestling and basketball. Hunter seemed impressed with Jason’s progress, but Jason had goals in mind. He wasn’t doing this to impress anyone.

Well. Maybe one person.

Jason obviously would always have the height and strength advantage, as well as being a natural athlete, but Gable was fast and athletic too, and much more experienced. They were both graceful in their own ways; Jason in his strength and ability to throw people in a perfect, smooth arcs, and Chad in the fluidity of his movements.

The more they trained together, the more their styles meshed and became one. Soon, Jason could move just a smoothly, and despite the size difference, Chad could throw him with grace and ease.

One Thursday lunchtime, Jason plonked himself down in the seat opposite Chad and asked him a question before anxiety could stop him.

“You wanna hang out this evening? Like, not wrestling-hanging-out, like, actually, chilling-hanging-out?”

“Sure,” said Chad with a grin. “I could use a break anyway. We don’t wanna burn ourselves out.” He sipped his drink thoughtfully. “My parents are going away for the weekend. You could stay over at mine, if you want?”

“S-sure,” said Jason. He could hear his heartbeat in his ears but couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across his face.

“Cool, my parents left me pizza money. I think they were hoping I’d have friends over. I haven’t…” Chad paused for a second. “I haven’t always had a lot of friends. My parents are pretty thrilled that I’ve been hanging out with you so much recently.”

For a brief moment, Jason let himself bask in Chad’s confidence. He rarely talked about his home life, or his life before moving to Florida.

“Well, that’s understandable,” said Jason, teasingly. Before Chad had a chance to mock-glare at him, he quickly continued, “Parents love me. I’m lovable.”

“Shush, you,” said Chad, but he was smiling.

*

Much to Jason’s dismay, Tye had decided to come and watch basketball practise. Since he used to be on the team, no one said anything when he sat himself down at the side lines.

Jason had the prickling feeling of being watched, and he fumbled the ball more than once. Evidently, Chad noticed, because every time he got close enough, he gave him a little reassuring pat on the shoulder.

He also offered words of encouragement, which wasn’t unusual for Chad, but he was rarely this enthusiastic about it.

Jason tried to block Tye from his mind.

During a water break, a couple of the other team members went and sat with Tye for a few minutes. Jason overheard him say something about wanting to “catch up” with his old teammates.

Jason walked to the other end of the court, Chad following him close behind.

The second half of the session was sluggish. The air was hot, and Jason found himself struggling to breathe evenly more than once. His lungs felt raw, and not in the satisfying way they did after a good cardio session.

When Hunter finally called time, Jason was almost ready to leave Chad behind in his haste to get to the locker room and away from Tye.

As he strode away, he heard footsteps behind him, and then someone calling his name. With a clenched jaw, he stopped.

“What do you want, Tye?” he asked, without turning around.

“Can we talk? Please?”

Sighing, Jason turned to face his former best friend.

“What?” he said sharply. Over Tye’s shoulder, he saw Chad headed in his direction. At the sight of him and Tye standing together, he stopped in his tracks.

“I wanted to say that I’m sorry,” said Tye.

“ _What?_ ” Whatever Jason had been expecting, it wasn’t that.

“I’m sorry. I fucked up. You’re my friend and I hurt you and I never meant to. I was just joking around. I didn’t realise that you were serious. I’m sorry.”

Jason took a deep breath. Tye’s words, although not unwelcome, felt like spikes of ice puncturing his chest. A little way away, he saw Chad and turn and walk in the direction of the locker room. His stomach twisted.

“Thank you,” he said after a moment. “Thank you for apologising. But I need you to understand something.” Tye nodded, although he had no idea what Jason was about to say. “We are not friends. As much fun as I had while hanging out with you, I don’t like the person I was when we were friends. I’ve got… new friends now. Friends who bring out the best in me.”

Silence settled over them like a cloud. Tye was looking at him with wide eyes, and Jason almost felt bad.

“I’m glad to hear that,” said Tye quietly. “I didn’t expect you to forgive me anyway. I understand why you wouldn’t want to be friends after everything. I’m glad you’re happy though. You deserve the best.”

Something about this conversation felt out of place, like he was talking to an ex, instead of an old friend, but Jason shook it off.

“Thank you.”

“I know it isn’t really my place to ask… but…” Tye began carefully. “You and Gable… what exactly is the deal with you guys? Is he…”

“I’m not even sure,” said Jason, chuckling slightly.

“Well… good luck, then. With everything.”

“You too.”

They parted ways, and Jason headed back to the locker room.

Chad was putting his shoes on when Jason walked in.

“Hey, man,” said Jason, and Chad looked up. “I got a little held up talking to Tye, I’m sorry. I still need to shower and get changed but I’ll be as quick as possible, okay?”

Chad’s face, which had been drawn into a pensive expression, lit up at Jason’s words.

“So, we’re still on for tonight?”

“Of course,” said Jason.

Half of the guys in the locker room had already left by the time Jason got into the shower. By the time he got out, the whole place was very quiet.

Anxious not to keep Chad waiting for too much longer, Jason quickly changed into his casual clothes.

As he pulled his t-shirt on, he heard muffled voices from the next room, accompanied by a loud clanging sound. Jason froze.

There were a few seconds of silence, and then he heard shouting. Swearing. More clanging and thumping sounds.

Barefoot, he slammed through the door into the next room.

First, his line of sight fell on Alexa Bliss, out of place in the boys’ locker room. She was standing on a bench and shouting commands.

Blake was pinning Chad to the floor with a knee on his chest, while Murphy kicked him.

Jason snapped.

On instinct, he jumped and dropkicked Murphy off his feet. Before Blake had even realised what was going on, Jason was grabbing him by the back of the shirt and slamming him into a locker. With the element of surprise on his side, Jason threw Blake halfway across the room and then took Murphy to the ground easily.

Behind him, Chad shakily got to his feet. He may have been caught off guard by the two-on-one attack but he was an athlete and a fighter, used to recovering quickly. Blake scrambled to his feet, but Chad grappled him to the floor and held him in an arm lock.

Jason had Murphy pinned to the floor with a knee on his back. He turned to see how Chad was doing when the sudden impact of Alexa Bliss’ knee against his face knocked him backwards. Murphy scrambled out from underneath him and made his way over to Blake, but Chad kicked him in the chest.

Blood was trickling from Jason’s nose. He was dazed, but Alexa wasn’t done. She grabbed him by the back of his head and kneed him in the face again. She went for it a third time but Chad held her back.

“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?”

All five of them looked up to see Hunter standing in the doorway. Alexa shoved Chad to get out of his grip, and he quickly released her.

Hunter escorted them to Principal Regal’s office. Regal had the boys wait outside while he interviewed Alexa. Blake and Murphy glared at Jason and Chad across the waiting room but no one moved a muscle.

Jason’s nose had stopped bleeding, but his upper lip and cheek were now encrusted with dried blood. Chad’s face was bruised, and he had a small cut on his forehead that was still bleeding a little bit. They were waiting for what felt like hours, but was probably actually about four minutes.

Eventually, Alexa emerged with red eyes and a tearstained face. Regal followed her, looking very, very angry.

“Jason, Chad, I’d like to speak to you two next,” he said, as Alexa took her seat between Blake and Murphy.

Regal invited them to sit in two chairs facing his desk before sitting down himself. Hunter stood behind him, looking like some kind of bodyguard.

“We should get the school nurse to look at the two of you,” said Regal.

“She’s gone home already, unfortunately,” Hunter responded.

“Ah…”

“I’m fine,” said Jason. “Fine enough to talk, anyway.”

“Me too,” said Chad. Regal looked uncomfortable, but carried on.

“What happened here, boys?” he asked.

Jason and Chad glanced at each other, but Jason decided to go first.

“I had just got out of the shower when I heard yelling and stuff from the next room. I ran in and saw Blake and Murphy attacking Chad, two-on-one, like cowards, so I stepped in to help in. It was all self-defence, sir.”

Regal regarded him, and then turned to Chad.

“Is that right? They attacked you first and Jason joined in to defend you?”

Chad nodded.

“We were the last three people in the main part of the locker room,” he said. “I was just gathering my stuff together when one of them grabs me from behind and smashes my head into the locker. I was too confused to fight back, and there were two of them. Jason saved me.”

“Do you know why they attacked you?” asked Regal.

“They don’t like me, I guess.”

“And what was Alexa doing in the boys’ locker room?”

Chad shrugged.

“No idea,” he said. “I guess she was there to make sure everything went smoothly for them.”

“Well, that’s interesting. That’s not the story that Alexa told.”

“Yeah, I’m sure,” said Jason bitterly.

Regal turned to him.

“She says that you were harassing her and that Blake and Murphy came to her defence,” he said evenly.

“ _Me?_ ” Jason was incredulous. “Harassing her how?”

“She said that you asked her out on a date, and when she turned you down, you got aggressive.”

“That’s bullshit!”

“Jason, language,” said Regal.

“Sorry. I mean. That’s just not true. I’m _gay_. I have no desire to go on a date with Alexa Bliss.”

There was silence in the room. After a moment, Hunter stepped forward and whispered something in Regal’s ear. Regal nodded.

Jason didn’t dare look at Chad. His heart was thundering in his ears.

“Okay, boys, please wait in the waiting room while I talk to Blake and Murphy and get their side of the story.”

Hunter escorted them out, and Jason still didn’t look at Chad. He was trembling as they sat down side by side.

Alexa wouldn’t look at him either, which he was grateful for. She always had a way of making him feel like she knew what he was thinking. It was probably those piercing eyes. He couldn’t deal with that right now.

“Jason,” said Chad tentatively. Jason hummed in response, still not looking at him. “Are you okay?”

Jason just laughed.

After a few minutes, Blake and Murphy came back in, followed by Hunter and Regal. Jason, Chad and Alexa all got to their feet.

“I was planning on suspending all of you, but you have Hunter to thank for me not doing that,” said Regal. His voice was soft but he commanded the whole room. “Since this isn’t the first time that Blake and Murphy have been involved in a violent incident, Hunter has informed me that he is cutting them from the basketball team.”

Alexa’s mouth fell open, but Blake and Murphy just looked at the floor, ashamed.

“Jason, Chad, since I have good reason to believe you two were only fighting in self-defence, I’m letting you off with a warning. Please come and speak to a member of the faculty if you are worried about your safety for any reason. We don’t want any incidents like this to happen again.”

Jason’s breathing had finally evened out. He glanced at Chad, who was beaming at him. Jason tried to smile back, but his mouth stung, and he realised he must’ve split his lip.

“Blake, Alexa and Murphy, since I’ve decided not to suspend you, you’re all going to be in detention for a long time.”

Alexa looked ready to argue, but Regal dismissed the group.

Once they were well out of earshot and away from the others, Chad turned to Jason.

“You still wanna come over to my place tonight?” he asked.

“Yes please,” said Jason.


	10. Guide the way back toward your house

When they arrived at Chad’s house, battered and bloody, Jason was infinitely glad that Chad’s parents were away for the weekend. As happy as they were about Chad making friends, showing up on their doorstep covered in blood and bruises was hardly the best way to make a first impression. Jason wanted to vocalise this, but the words got stuck in his throat.

Once inside, Chad sat Jason down at the kitchen table and fetched a first aid kit.

“Hold still,” he said as he knelt on the chair beside him and began to clean the blood from Jason’s face with a damp flannel.

Jason’s nose and lip had both stopped bleeding, but were sore to the touch. Chad was gentle, but Jason still found himself wincing.

When he was done, Chad handed him an ice pack, which he held against his lip. It stung, but it would help with the swelling, so he stuck it out.

Chad left the room momentarily, taking the bloody flannel with him. He returned with a fresh one.

“Okay, now let me do you,” said Jason. Chad looked at him, and Jason had to try not to blush. He cleared his throat.

“You cleaned me up. Now it’s my turn to clean you up.”

“Okay,” said Chad, sitting down on the chair he’d been kneeling on. Jason put down his ice pack and shifted closer.

Chad looked in worse shape than Jason had. His nose had been bleeding too, and he had dark bruises forming on his face, neck and arms. Jason got to work gently wiping at Chad’s face with the flannel. The blood didn’t come off easily, so Jason put his hand on the back of Chad’s head to get better leverage, and Chad hissed in pain.

“Sorry sorry sorry,” said Jason. His hand came away covered in blood. “ _Fuck_. Your head is bleeding.”

“What?”

Wordlessly, Jason turned the chair Chad was sitting on so he could see the back of his head.

His hair was matted with dried blood.

“Fuck,” Jason repeated.

“You know, you’re not doing a great job of reassuring me right now,” said Chad nervously.

“Sorry.” Jason took a deep a breath. Carefully, he parted Chad’s hair. He found a small cut on his scalp, crusted with blood. Tentatively, he touched it, and Chad gasped.

“Does your head hurt?” Jason asked. “Like, do you have a headache?”

“Not really, but it’s hurting right now where you’re touching me.”

“Sorry.” Jason withdrew his fingers. “You have a cut back there. You should probably get it checked out.”

“Okay. Tomorrow, if it still hurts.”

“Okay, good.”

Chad turned his chair back around, took the blood-soaked flannel from Jason’s hand, and reached back to feel his own hair. He made a face at the feeling of dried blood clumping his hair together.

“I need a shower,” he said, and Jason’s heart skipped a beat. “Make yourself at home. I’ll show you my room so you can dump your stuff or whatever.”

“O-okay.”

*

While Chad showered, Jason changed into his pyjamas. He normally slept shirtless, but tonight, he was wearing a loose-fitting t-shirt with his pyjama trousers.

His heart hadn’t stopped racing since the moment Chad had said he was going to shower. It was finally sinking in that he was here, in his pyjamas, in Chad’s room, waiting for Chad.

He wanted to sit down, but felt weird about sitting on Chad’s bed. The chair by the desk was piled high with clothes, and he felt even weirder about moving them. Eventually, he decided to perch at the end of the bed, ready to get to his feet at any moment if need be.

It felt like an age later that Chad came back into the room, hair damp and a towel around his neck. He was wearing pyjama bottoms and no shirt, and Jason kept his eyes fixed firmly on his face.

It wasn’t like he’d never seen Chad shirtless before. During particularly strenuous sessions training or in the gym, often they would both end up taking their shirts off.

Here, in Chad’s bedroom, it was very different to being in the gym.

Thankfully, Chad pulled on a clean t-shirt from the pile of clothes from his chair, and Jason managed to exhale again.

“I feel a lot better now my hair is clean,” said Chad, breaking the silence. He flopped down face first onto the bed next to Jason and clutched his pillow to his chest. “I could sleep for days.”

“Me too,” said Jason with a nervous laugh. Chad rolled over to look at him.

“Are you feeling alright?” he asked.

“Yeah. Never better. I mean… Yeah. Kinda weird, I guess.”

“Not every day you get the shit kicked out of you, I suppose,” Chad offered.

“Yeah, that too. I mean…” Jason was struggling to meet Chad’s eyes. Chad was watching him carefully. “There’s… other stuff too, I guess. Stuff that’s been on my mind.”

“Okay, one sec.” Chad sat up and moved so he was resting against the headboard. “What’s up?”

Jason forced himself to turn to look at him. Chad’s eyes were wide and expectant, and Jason’s heart was thundering so hard he could barely think.

“I’ve been thinking a lot,” Jason exhaled. “A-about… about what happened with me and Tye. When I kissed him.”

Chad’s expression was completely unreadable, and Jason found it more unnerving than anything.

“It was a mistake,” he continued. “I never liked him like that really and he didn’t like me that way either and he thought it was all a big joke and shit kinda went to hell after that. But… I don’t regret it, if that makes sense?”

Chad’s mouth fell open a little, but he didn’t say anything.

“I don’t regret it because I learnt things about myself. And without that, I never would’ve become friends with you. So it was worth it.”   

A wary smile spread across Chad’s face, and it imbued Jason with the confidence he needed to continue.

“And… and when I told you that I wasn’t into Tye, you said ‘good’, and honestly I haven’t been able to think of much else since, ‘cause I wasn’t really sure what you meant by it but I kinda thought, or maybe I just hoped, that it meant what I kinda thought it meant-”

“Jason,” Chad interrupted. “Breathe.”

“I like you.” The words tumbled out of Jason’s mouth. “A lot.” He breathed in deeply. “And when you said, ‘good’ I was hoping that maybe that meant you liked me too.”

Chad chuckled softly.

“I thought it was obvious,” he said. “But for the sake of clarification, yes. I like you too.”

“That’s… that’s…”

“Shh,” said Chad gently, pulling Jason toward him. They met in the middle with a soft kiss. Chad’s hand found Jason’s.

It was cut short when Jason winced. His split lip was still sensitive.

“Ow.”

“Here, let me kiss it better.” Chad took Jason’s face in his hands and very gently kissed his sore lip. It still stung but the gesture made Jason’s heart race.

He returned the favour, tentatively laying kisses on the bruises on Chad’s face. They lay down together, holding each other until the rest of the world disappeared.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on twitter (@SRbackwards) and tumblr (ambrollinsislife).


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